5 Star Season Continues for Braves

The 2010 season has been one that this group of Braves will likely never forget and, for five members of the team, it just got a whole lot better. The July 4th announcement that there will be five Atlanta Braves on the National League All-Star roster capped what has been an outstanding first half of the season for the team with the second best record in the NL. The five selected were Martin Prado, Brian McCann, Tim Hudson, Jason Heyward and Omar Infante, a list that includes both deserving and surprising selections with only Heyward making onto the team via fan vote. So how did each of these five end up bound for Anaheim and a place amongst baseballs best?

Prado

Ever since Bobby Cox named the 26-year-old Venezuelan as Braves second baseman around the All-Star break last year Prado has repaid the faith shown in him with interest. Having spent the first three and a half years of his Major League career as a useful utility player he seized his opportunity to start with both hands, ending 2009 with his .307 average good enough for second amongst the regular roster. That was just a preview of what the 2010 version of Martin Prado would be. Coming in with the starting job already his and as an established member of the team he has lit up pitching from both leagues while compiling an NL best .335 average with a league leading 116 hits. If he continues to hit this way through the second half of the season he will accumulate well over 200 hits and should be in the voting for league MVP. This has all been achieved while stabilising the Braves lead-off spot and committing only 3 errors all year. Despite only starting in the All-Star game because of Chase Utley’s injury it continues an incredible season that will allow Martin’s mother, visiting form Venezuela for the first time, to see her son be an All-Star.

Heyward

It was predicted at an early stage in the 20-year-old slugger’s career that he would go to many All-Star games but very few thought he would make his very first in his first year in the big leagues. Despite his average now looking much more like that of a rookie (.251) his regression appears to be linked to the thumb injury he sustained sliding into third base back on May 14th. Heyward went into that game with a .301 average, 8 home runs, and a gaudy .1044 OPS, none of which look anything like the rookie J-Hey was supposed to be. This is the Heyward that made the All-Star game, the one whose home run trot was more like a gallop, who came up time and again with clutch hits late in the game and who electrified the City of Atlanta. The struggles he encountered ever since going head first against Arizona did not affect the fans reaction to one of the most talented young players of this generation, not even a .181 average in June could do that. Since the announcement of the ASG teams Heyward has confirmed he would consider taking his place in right field at Angel Stadium if his thumb has fully recovered, it would only add to the growing mythology of the young man if he made his triumphant return as an All-Star.

Hudson

This time last year Tim Hudson was rehabbing his surgically repaired elbow following a successful Tommy John procedure, neither he nor Braves officials knew if he would be able to return as an effective member of the rotation. Hudson returned in August and pitched seven games that impressed GM Frank Wren enough to reward him with a new contract and position in the Braves starting five. Much like Prado the 3.61 ERA Hudson posted last year was just a prelude to the dazzling form produced in the first half of this season; Hudson has gone 8-4 with a 2.44 ERA and held opponents to a .221 average against him. He has also compiled an astonishing 114.1 innings so far and would be on pace to exceed 220 innings pitched, a regular occurrence before the elbow troubles that lead to the surgeons table. Hudson may not be putting on the kind of show that Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Johnson have been but when you take into account his recovery from surgery and the return he has made Hudson is as deserving of an All-Star selection as any of the younger pitchers in what is an extremely strong pitching year for the National League.

McCann

While not impressing in the way he has in his previous four All-Star years Brian McCann has none the less made it to his fifth consecutive ASG but has, once again, missed out on a starting spot after losing the public vote to the Cardinals Yadier Molina. McCann’s .265 average and 10 home runs don’t display the excellence at the plate that the Georgia native has displayed in the past the qualities that have been on display were enough to convince NL manager Charlie Manual that McCann was worth a spot on the team. The catcher has developed into one of the best leaders in the National League despite battling vision problems and a lack of production he has shouldered other burdens and moulded himself into a model professional. McCann hasn’t improved as a defensive catcher in the way it was hoped, posting a career low fielding percentage that could also be blamed on his troublesome eyes, but his handling of the pitching staff is improving at an incredible rate. The pitching staff, as a unit, has posted a 3.67 team ERA which is the fourth best in the National League and fifth best in the Majors, a tribute to the work that Brian puts in with the talented hurlers he catches, and none will be more talented than those on the National League roster.

Infante

The most surprising and controversial All-Star of at least the last decade was the utility man that Bobby Cox likes so much. In many regards Omar Infante is in exactly the same position that Martin Prado found himself in this time last year, he is playing considerably better than someone in his spot on the diamond (Yunel Escobar), has impressed managers and reporters repeatedly with his work ethic and production and is loved by the majority of Braves nation. Whether that results in an All-Star calibre player is a debate raging amongst the smartest people in baseball at the moment, or at least the ones that have the pens, but is not affecting the second most popular Venezuelan on the Braves roster. Infante has hit .309 in 57 games so far this year and is continuing the steady improvement he has shown in the three years since he arrived in Atlanta from Detroit, he hit .293 in 2008 improving to .305 last year before bettering that in the first half of 2010. Regardless of your opinion as to his inclusion on the NL roster it was a pleasant surprise for Infante and the Braves best summed up by the man himself when talking to Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

“I got a call from Frank Wren, and the first thought I had was that I got traded,I was kind of nervous and choked up. By the time Frank told me I was going to the All-Star game, I thought he was joking around. It took, like, five minutes for me to realize I’m going to the All-Star game.”

Infante’s selection only goes to prove that in this crazy season anything could happen for the Atlanta Braves.

Building for Yesterday and Tomorrow

What began as a team built to win now has quickly become one built to win yesterday and tomorrow, just not today. While dinosaurs like Troy Glaus and Chipper Jones (yes a Chiposauraus) have ensured the middle of the line-up has exactly zero production something strange has been happening elsewhere; the Braves have got younger and better. Over the first 6 weeks of the season there have been four young men making debuts, to make that even better is the fact that 3 of those actually project to be long term members of the team. It is very difficult to have any discussion about the new breed of baby Braves without starting by talking about the Kid, Jason Heyward.

Nothing in my limited lexicon can explain the impact that the 20 year-old from Henry County has had not just on this team but on the city of Atlanta. Watching Opening Day at the usually cavernous Turner Field was an experience usually reserved for cities like New York and Boston, the Ted was filled by a loud crowd filled with hope and expectation. And Heyward delivered. Since his first major league swing demolished a Carlos Zambrano fastball J-Hey has kept delivering for a team that so far hasn't delivered. As well as his raw talent he has shown an incredible ability to adjust to the highest level of competition. In his last ten games he has improved his batting average from .234 to .291; he has also hit 4 homers in that same period. Without any doubt Heyward is the present and future of this Atlanta team desperately in search of an identity.

Heyward will need some help to fashion this new Braves ball era and there is plenty coming through the organisation. As has become the Braves trademark the majority of their young talent sits on the mound and not at the plate. The most talented of this year’s debutants is highly touted reliever Craig Kimbrel. The flame thrower out of Huntsville, Alabama has been described as many things, most impressively “the right handed Billy Wagner”. With a fastball that sits in the mid to upper 90’s he has the kind of stuff that gives hitters fits and has done so in his 1.1 innings so far this season. Beyond his ability Kimbrel has the attitude to be successful for many years at the major league level. Backed by his heater and despite his somewhat diminutive stature he has shown an ability to be aggressive to even the best hitters. Hopefully he can spend the 2010 season shadowing the veteran Virginian, Wagner, and learn how elite closers get to be elite.

Kimbrel was preceded in the Atlanta bullpen by 25-year-old rookie Jonny Venters who joined the Braves ‘pen as the final nail in Jo-Jo Reyes’ major league career, and quickly showed he was a much sharper nail. So far he has completed 11 innings in eight games and compiled a 1.69 ERA and looked every bit a big leaguer. Regardless of whether or not Kimbrel becomes a dominant closer he will be no use if the team can’t get him leads and that will increasingly become Venters job. He kind of came out of nowhere but has now become a central piece of the over burdened relief corps and been as quietly effective as anyone could have imagined.

The least heralded and least used of the debutants so far has been shortstop Brandon Hicks. A gold glove in waiting Hicks has never really adjusted to the wood bats of pro ball having hit just .179 at triple-A Gwinnett this year. Hicks is the least likely to succeed especially given the relative solidity of Yunel Escobar as the Braves long term short, but that doesn’t mean he should be counted out. There is always the possibility that Hicks is just one adjustment away from being a solid hitter but projects much better as a career pinch runner. Although we do keep playing Brooks Conrad so anything is possible.

When you add the likes of Heyward and Kimbrel to the young players who made their debuts last year we suddenly have a core of all-star potential players. Those from last year include Cy Young in waiting Tommy Hanson, who has already confirmed himself as the Braves staff ace, and future starter Kris Medlen. The two Californians have shown the ability to be true quality pitchers, despite Medlen working primarily as a reliever for his first two big league years. However with the over-priced Kenshin Kawakami’s contract finally ending at the end of the year the Braves will have a spot free in the rotation and, in my opinion, the team is better off inserting Medlen as the fifth starter and spending the KK money on a genuine hitter. The world has seen what Phil Hughes has achieved for the New York Yankees this year with the prior knowledge that he would be a starter and, even if he is not as talented, Medlen could be equally as effective with the correct preparation. While Tommy hasn’t been great this year he has still compiled a 2.83 ERA while struggling to find the consistency he displayed last year. Hanson is much more than simple statistics, there are times watching Hanson when he just over matches professional hitters, his curveball has an embarrassment inducing quality that only elite pitchers possess. My praise for Hanson and Medlen is without once mentioning that last year’s standout Jair Jurrjens is himself only 24 and has just as much chance as Hanson to win a Cy. The most successful years in the organisations history was behind three great pitchers, the question is are these three great?

It is also worth remembering two of the Braves best current players are both 26-years-old. Second Baseman Martin Prado and Catcher Brian McCann should be solid .300 hitters for at least the next five years or so. The good news for all Braves fans is that Atlanta seem to have loaded up for years of success in the near future, the bad news is it is not near enough for 2010, sorry Bobby.

Big Braves Blog 4

As Spring Training had gone on the outfield seems to be answering more questions than it was asked. Last year the Braves started the season with Garrett Anderson, Jordan Schafer and Jeff Francoeur in the three outfield spots. The likely hood is none of those three will be on the teams Major League roster come April, only one will be a member of the organisation. I’ve thought about starting this blog with either left or center field but it’s impossible not to begin by looking at phenom Jason Heywood. While it’s unfair to put the future of the franchise on the shoulders of a 20-year-old he has done little by way of performance to quiet the talk. The buzz surrounding Heyward began in earnest when he made AA ball look like a weekend game of catch. In Rome he hit for a huge .352 average in 47 games, perhaps even more impressively he had 28 walks to only 19 strikeouts for a .446 on-base percentage. What all those numbers mean is that Heyward ate AA ball for breakfast as a nineteen-year-old. When the Georgia native was promoted from Rome to Gwinnett for the G-Braves playoff games he picked up exactly where he left off, would you expect anything else from the most composed teenager you were ever likely to see. In his very first playoff series he hit .364 in the three games he played, what says more about Heyward is that he actually improved his OBP to .462. For someone who would only be a sophomore in college Heyward shows discipline that can barely be comprehended and that has continued into Spring Training. Through 7 games in Florida he has compiled the mind boggling OBP of .619 with 6 walks to only 1 strikeout. Just to put the cherry on the top of the Heyward sized cake he is also hitting .429. Even in Spring Training Heyward has shown a type of dominance that we have rarely if ever seen, one that is making his inclusion on the opening day roster almost impossible to avoid. It is not just his numbers that impress about Heyward it is the extraordinary make-up of such a young man. Unfortunately numbers are the only thing readily available to SportSpot but MLB.com columnist Peter Gammons wrote a great piece on Jason and his family;

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100309&content_id=8723826&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

Even with Heyward the Braves will still need two other outfielders and as Spring’s gone on who that’s going to be has become less clear. The original plan involved Nate McClouth in center field with a platoon of Melky Cabrera and Matt Diaz in left. However no one has taken it upon themselves to solidify their position. Of the three Matt Diaz has so far giving the best showing in Spring, his average (and it really is average) currently sits at .273 he has no RBI’s, 4 strikeouts and only two walks. Melky could easily be feeling pressure this early, he has been mainly vilified since he arrived in the Vazquez deal, but he hasn’t yet tried winning over the Braves fans. His average average is .250 with 1 RBI but 3 walks to only 1 strikeout. This is the Cabrera style of game that fans will have to get used to, he has great patience at the plate, will take his walks and hit a few dingers. He will never give great average and will only be a solid everyday player. This is proven by his career .269 batting average and .331 on-base percentage. So far that’s exactly the impression he is giving. Most disappointing of all has been Nate McClouth. Having been encouraged by the improvement in vision his new contact lenses provided he felt better than any other period in his short stay in Atlanta. In the early part of Spring Training that hasn’t exactly happened. His pretty disappointing first 84 games in Atlanta was put down to mentioned eye issue, those 84 games included a miniscule .257 average which was somewhat hidden by his eleven homers. Pencilled in as the teams lead-off hitter for 2010 it would be good to see McClouth working on his OBP just as much as his average, both have dive bombed. His average is down to .077 so far this Spring and his OBP not much better at .188, only three Braves have smaller averages through the first week of Spring Training and only one of them will be playing higher than AA ball this year.

Whether McClouth, Cabrera and Diaz will improve, this early in Spring is never a good indicator, we will only know over time. Hopefully two of the three will go out and prove their worth and make the other two spots theirs. Whoever they are they will be playing the giant Heyward shadow, which may not be an awful thing for them. As for Heyward this could be his first year as part of a rejuvenated franchise, one which he is the face of.

This will be the final instalment of the Big Braves Blog, a series I have had to neglect due to school and work commitment. I hope it has satisfied some interest in the major players on the Braves 2010 roster, one that I hope has the opportunity to take Bobby Cox back to the Promised Land. I will keep writing on points of interest in the Braves spring camp looking forward to the start of the 2010 season. Keep checking back and Go Braves!

Braves vs. Mets Spring Training Game 1

Finally we have baseball, for the first time in 2010 pitchers, catchers, hitters and fielders were together in the same place at the same time. Whilst the Braves dropped the first game of spring ball it proved to be a successful first outing on the most part. Tommy Hanson who, in my view, should be on the hills on Opening Day was there today and did exactly what everyone wanted and needed. Tommy produced two innings with only one hit and no runs including 3 strike outs, if the rest of the year goes this way he will be even better than last year. Kris Medlen, who will get a start of his own on Saturday, produced the same numbers as Hanson and provided encouragement that he could be a fifth starter or at least a shut down reliever in the mould of Phil Hughes or even Jonathan Papelbon. Unfortunately Jesse Chavez was awful in his first appearance as a Brave, at a stage when pitchers are supposed to be ahead of hitters giving up three runs in one inning looks about as bad as it can get. Braves hitters however impressed first time, especially those hitters that needed to impress. Jason Heyward was outstanding in the first stage of his major league audition going 1-1 with 2 walks, it could barely have been a better day for the young Georgian in his quest for the right field job. A player I feel incredibly sorry for is Melky Cabrera who has taken a bad rap simply because it was he that arrived in place of Javy Vazquez. If Melky can compete the way he did today, and we will see as the season goes on, then he can keep the beard and his place in left field. Wins and losses aren’t important in March in Florida performances are, the Braves didn’t get the win but they got the performances. Roll on tomorrow.